Stories from the Materialise World Conference

Stories from the Materialise World Conference

by David| April 19, 2012

The highlight of the Materialise World Conference - The 3D Printed Fashion Show

The Materialise World Conference has kicked off with a bang and we’re here to tell you our stories. As you might have seen on our constant tweets, yesterday on April 18th, the Materialise World Conference finally opened the doors to its many guests. Amongst them were European President Herman Van Rompuy, countless world famous 3D printing companies and fashion icons like the master milliner Elvis Pompilio himself.

A quick snapshot of the conference room during a speech by Wim Michiels of Materialise

European President Herman Van Rompuy giving his speech at the Materialise World Conference

Together with its many successful clients, Materialise CEO Wilfried Vancraen showcased the current state of 3D Printing technology and did this through an extensive program that touches many different industries.

Of course we at i.materialise were also present and had the wonderful opportunity to be accompanied by some of our most dearest friends and designers. Amongst them were also some of the participants of the Hats off to 3D Printing Design Challenge. It was a grand pleasure to see them arrive from places as far as Australia as was the case for design challenge participant Jennifer Loy.

Taking a tour of Leuven with our dear i.materialise friends and designers

So as the day progressed, we gathered our honored guests and took them to a nice restaurant followed by a guided tour of the city Leuven. It was a great way to get to know each other in a much more personal way. Once our stomachs were filled and our brains fed with cultural Leuven, we head back to Materialise Headquarters to let our designers speak about their experience with i.materialise. Here we were delighted to hear from our speakers:

This was then followed by a guided tour of our facilities which now also includes our third new and biggest building.

One of the conference rooms of our new building (notice all the Quins.MGX lamps?)

And then… as the sun began to set, the excitement grew for the highlight of the day, the 3D Printed Fashion Show. With our guests in place and the runway ready, Materialise was about to provide us all an unforgettable night. Wonderful designs from Elvis Pompilio, Nicolo Casas and our Top 20 participants of the Hats off to 3D Printing Design Challenge walked the runway.

A dazzling show with amazing 3D printed works of art

In this picture, the magnicifent craftsmanship of Elvis Pompilio

And of course, amazing pieces by Nicolo Casas

After the magnificent show, the winners were announced:

WINNER: MARK BLOOMFIELD (Daisy)

RUNNER-UPS: DARIO SCAPITTA (Butterfly Hat) & SONG BOWEN (Cornices)

And finally, the winning hat of the Hats off to 3D Printing Design Challenge - Designed by Mark Bloomfield

Runner-up Dario Scapitta with his wonderful work of art - The Butterfly Hat

Today we have also managed to process a big part of the wonderful footage taken yesterday and we have made sure to put the results on our facebook and flickr accounts. You can see more of the preview pictures below through these new picture sets we have created: Hats off to 3D Printing & Hats off to 3D Printing Fashion Show. Furthermore, we would like to thank Belgian fashion model Angela Bitonti for her wonderful contribution to showcasing these grand 3D printed hats.

Cornices by runner-up Song Bowen from our flickr collection: Hats off to 3D Printing

Belgian fashion model Angela Bitonti takes her 3D printed hat off for Kiran Gangadharan - designer of this great work of art

As you can see, it was an unforgettable event that we enjoyed very much. We were very fortunate to and honored to have our dear friends and designers by our side and even more so to see how they participate in pushing the world of 3D printing forward one step at a time. Please don’t hesitate to visit our blog tomorrow again to get a look of the interview we took with Mark Bloomfield, winner of the Hats off to 3D Printing Design Challenge.

Also please remember that we’re doing our best to provide you with a video of the actual show as soon as possible. In the meantime, please enjoy the following video (in Dutch) as a preview that has been broadcasted on Belgian National Television.